Yankees put even more pressure on top prospect Anthony Volpe

The New York Yankees have top prospect Anthony Volpe doing even more in spring training than just competing for the starting shortstop spot.

The New York Yankees have a huge competition during spring training, and it’s to determine who will be their starting shortstop for the 2023 season. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who started at the position last year to mixed results, will be competing alongside Oswald Peraza, who was called up last season, and top prospect Anthony Volpe.

It’s no secret how highly the Yankees think of Volpe, as they cited him as the reason why they didn’t go after a superstar shortstop in free agency in the past two offseasons. As if he didn’t already have enough pressure placed upon him by the team, he may also have some new possibilities.

The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner and Brendan Kuty noted in their Week 1 takeaways piece (subscription required) that manager Aaron Boone said Volpe will see “a decent amount of second base” in spring training, and didn’t rule out the top prospect seeing time at third base as well.

Yankees planning on using Anthony Volpe at second base while competing for starting shortstop job

The Yankees appear to be keeping Volpe’s options open this season.

Obviously, second base is primarily manned by Gleyber Torres. Behind Torres is utility man D.J. LeMahieu. It certainly doesn’t hurt to expand your options in the middle infield, considering how long the baseball season is.

As for third base, Josh Donaldson appears to be the starter heading into Opening Day. While he didn’t perform well in the batter’s box, his strength was on defense. Not to mention that LeMahieu can also play that position.

Volpe is not just highly thought of by the Yankees organization. MLB.com has Volpe rated as the fifth-best prospect in all of baseball. That is why the Yankees wanted to at least let him develop and give him a chance to compete for a starting role in the future. That time is now, and the spotlight is on him, especially after the team benched Kiner-Falefa towards the end of last season, and had Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera split time at the position.

This past season, Volpe split time between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre, where he recorded a .249 batting average, a .342 on-base percentage, a .460 slugging percentage, 21 home runs, 65 RBI, 86 runs scored, and 127 hits.

There is still over a month to go before the start of the 2023 season. We should get a clearer picture as to where the Yankees are leaning when it comes to who will be the starting shortstop. Let’s just say Yankees fans will be keeping an eye on Volpe throughout spring training, especially to see how he plays at shortstop and second base.